New Yorker Festival drops Steve Bannon after Jim Carrey, Judd Apatow, others threaten to cancel

Alex Young
Updated
John Mulaney, Jack Antonoff, and Patton Oswalt also threatened to pull out of the festival.

Update: The New Yorker Festival has dropped Steve Bannon from its lineup amid backlash. In a memo to staff, New Yorker editor David Remnick wrote, “I don’t want well-meaning readers and staff members to think that I’ve ignored their concerns. I’ve thought this through and talked to colleagues — and I’ve re-considered. I’ve changed my mind. There is a better way to do this. Our writers have interviewed Steve Bannon for The New Yorker before, and if the opportunity presents itself I’ll interview him in a more traditionally journalistic setting as we first discussed, and not on stage.”

Original story

Steve Bannon’s appearance at next month’s New Yorker Festival has prompted Jim Carrey, Judd Apatow, and several other prominent speakers to cancel their own scheduled appearances.

Bannon, the founder of Brietbart and former chief strategist of Donald Trump, is set to speak with New Yorker editor David Remnick at an event titled, “The Ideology of Trumpism,” on October 5th.

News of Bannon’s inclusion was met with wide-spread criticism. “If Steve Bannon is at the New Yorker festival I am out,” tweeted director Judd Apatow.” I will not take part in an event that normalizes hate. I hope the @NewYorker will do the right thing and cancel the Steve Bannon event. Maybe they should read their own reporting about his ideology.”

John Mulaney, who also pulled out of the festival, said, “I genuinely support public intellectual debate, and have paid to see people speak with whom I strongly disagree. But this isn’t James Baldwin vs William F Buckley. This is PT Barnum level horseshit. And it was announced on a weekend just before tix went on sale.”

As of publication, Jim Carrey, Jack Antonoff, Patton Oswalt, and Bo Burnham have also canceled their scheduled appearances.